SU holds graduation in separate ceremonies

Due to weather, Shippensburg University moved graduation into the Heiges Field House and divided the graduates into two groups. (Kerri Fleegle — For Public Opinion)

Shippensburg >> Jeffery Samuels joked that putting his daughter Samantha through four years of Shippensburg University gave him his gray hair. But he could not have been more proud Saturday.

Samantha, who hails from South Philly, said she got her degree in psychology, but she is far from finished with school.

"I plan to go back to Philly and get a job. And then in January I will start back to school to get my master's degree," she said.

She plans to work in social services, she said.

Mitchell Stevens said he is eagerly looking forward to working in his chosen field of mathematics. He will soon be taking the test to become certified as an actuary.

"I have a lot of studying to do to take the exams to become certified," he said. "I'll be working in risk analysis."

Predictions of bad weather caused the university to move the commencement exercise from the outdoor stadium to the Heiges Field House, a massive and non-air-conditioned building nearby. Despite its size, the field house could only hold about half of the predicted crowds, so commencement for Grove College and the College of Education and Human Services were held at 11 a.m. and ceremonies for the College of Arts and Sciences were postponed until 3 p.m.

Including graduates, each event put about 6,000 people into the structure, according to university employees.

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Commencement speaker Major General Tony Cucolo, currently the 49th commandant of the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, shared his thoughts on the current crop of graduates from the perspective of his 35-year military career.

He said the average age of students at the War College is 42, or about 20 years from their own college commencement.

"'Student' has defined who you are for the past 16 years," he said. "Those years were challenging, but routine. But what are you going to do now? What are you going to learn? How will you know what you know?"

He said his students ask him how they are to become the master of details when there are so many details.

He said 20 years out from their own graduation, his students are shaking off two decades of unfounded assumptions, "usually gained from sources they agree with," Cucolo said. "It is too easy now to back away from your intellectual curiosity. As I see it, at this point in your life, you have two choices. You can climb up into the grandstands and watch and yell, or you can get out on the field and play. You need to challenge assumptions, participate in your community, and vote. The world is a scary place, volatile and dangerous. it is full of ignorance and hatred fed by technology. We need you. I know you're up to the task."

He said he based his faith on his experience with his soldiers over the years, approximately contemporary with Ship's graduating class. He told a few tales of heroism and grit on the part of troops under his command.

He said he felt the graduates have an obligation.

"Please commit to living a life worthy of my soldiers' sacrifice," he said.

As the final group of students returned to their seats, diplomas in hand, a brief quiet moment erupted in the stands to a volcano of sounds — cheers, screams, clapping, the wall of people in the bleachers sparkling with camera flashes as mortarboards exploded into the air.